How did Corporal Hitler's Luger from the First World War end up being the weapon that killed an IRA turncoat in Kempsey, New South Wales, in 1933? When an affluent Kempsey matron spots a young Aboriginal boy who bears an uncanny resemblance to her husband, not only does she scream for divorce, attempt to take control of the child's future and upend her comfortable life, but the whole town seems drawn into chaos.A hero of the First World War has a fit at the cinema and is taken to a psychiatric ward in Sydney, his Irish farmhand is murdered, and a gay piano-playing veteran, quietly a friend to many in town, is implicated.
Corporal Hitler's Pistol speaks to the never-ending war that began with 'the war to end all wars'. Rural communities have always been a melting pot and many are happy to accept a diverse bunch ... as long as they don't overstep. Set in a town he knows very well, in this novel Tom Keneally tells a compelling story of the interactions and relationships between black and white Australians in early twentieth-century Australia.
Bill is one of the founders of Boffins and has been involved in selecting the books we stock since our beginning in 1989. His favourite reading is history, with psychology, current affairs, and business books coming close behind. His hobbies are reading, food, reading, drinking, reading, and sleeping.
At 86 years of age, Thomas Keneally is one of our living legends and he’s still sharing his wonderful stories with us. His forte is historical fiction, and whether he’s writing about Joan of Arc, American civil war soldiers, Aboriginal Australians, or Jews in World War Two Poland, his research is always spot on and as a reader I never feel “that’s not right”. His latest novel is set in 1930’s country New South Wales, with a wide cast of characters at different levels of society. The "pistol" is pivotal to the story, built around a World War One vet and a “picture show” reminder of his wartime experience with the weapon. Spreading out from this, every theme imaginable is explored: PTSD relating to wartime experiences, and pioneering treatment of the syndrome; infidelity; oppression of women; the Irish civil war of the 1920s; life in the Great Depression; homosexual life at the time; and, not least, the place of Aboriginal Australians at the fringe of society. But it’s not a sermon, it’s a rollicking story full of richly drawn characters, intrigue and secrets. I sped through it, totally involved, and recommend it to you for a great summer read.
